THE VEDDAS OF CEYLON. 



(An abridgement of the monograph by Professor Virchow.) 



Object of the Paper. — In the various mixture of races 

 inhabiting Ceylon, the Veddas have, for a long time, been an 

 object of special prominence irs. the study of ethnography, 

 because there is much room for conjecture that in them is 

 preserved a remnant of the aboriginal inhabitants of the island. 

 And now, when, according to all accounts, their number is so 

 rapidly diminishing that, at no very distant date, their last 

 members will have disappeared from among the living, a peculiar 

 interest is added to their study, and it is desirable to transmit to 

 posterity a trustworthy picture of their singular characteristics. 

 For this purpose the material we now have is nowise sufficient ; 

 hence the object of the following disquisition is not merely to 

 collect what has been already ascertained, but to point out the 

 gaps which can be supplied only by further local researches. 

 It is to be hoped that this may stimulate to the immediate 

 application of all possible means to obtain the wanting material. 



The Veddd Land.—The Veddas have dwelt, at least for 

 some centuries, in the vast forests oi\ the south-east side of 

 the island, between the mountains and the sea, and especially 

 in the wild tracts of land called the Vedda-rata of Bintenne and 

 the Maha-vedda-rata of Uva. The more savage remnant of the 

 tribe live in the beautiful province of Nilgalla and in the forests 

 of Bintenne. There is much evidence, however, that in times not 

 very far distant the Veddas were scattered over a much larger 

 extent of country, which reached much further northward, 

 and their earlier presence in the south and even south-west is 

 also proved They are indeed spoken of as having formerly 



inhabited the districts between Adam's Peak and the Raygam 



( 1 ) K)\ox. Historical relation of the island of Ceylon, 1817, p. 9, 122, 

 Percival, Description of tl^e island of Ceylon, translated by Bergk, 

 p. 337. 



Bailey. Transac. Ethnol. Soc. Lon. 1863, New Ser. Yol. ii. p. 313 note. 



